…organise a hybrid event

an event combining people attending in person with people attending online.

Just because people can’t make it to your event doesn’t mean they’re not interested in being part of your event. Bums on seats nowadays means bums on seats in person and behind monitors or mobile devices.

Let’s face it….people are the same if they’re in person or behind a computer or connected via mobile. We all want to be informed and motivated. We all want to share our experiences, learn from one another, make the world a better place.

We’ve yet to find proof that putting an event online reduces in person attendance. If anything, it increases attendance at future events because people see the quality of the event and want to attend in person rather than online.

Hybrid or blended events offer a mix of face-to-face and virtual experiences simultaneously. You complement your face-to-face, on-site, physical event with viewing over the web, both live and on-demand. The result is a hybrid event, conference or meeting that serves two audiences: those who could not attend the physical event and those who attended but want to review sessions they may have missed.

And GigTV has successfully completed hundreds of hybrid events. Hybrid event solutions are especially beneficial in these difficult economic times with travel restrictions, budget cuts and increasing pressure to produce positive ROI. Event webcasting can be a cost-effective way to get the message out, fill seats and find new sources of revenue all at the same time.

Large audience events
Single event webcasted live with hundreds to thousands of online viewers

Components of a hybrid event

Record, webcast and host: Using your preferred streaming platform or ours, GigTV technicians record your speakers and their materials on-site and instantly stream the presentation over the internet. People can then watch in real-time or later on-demand through any web browser. GigTV guarantees the highest quality end product, with the webcast available both live or immediately following the event for on-demand viewing.

Registration: Use your existing event registration system or ours complete with confirmation emails and event reminders. We’ve created different levels from basic registration (such as fields for only name and email) to more advanced with multiple  fields and integration with your event management systems.

Ecommerce: Monetize your event by charging to view your recorded sessions – sell each presentation individually, as bundles of related content or the full conference catalog. Your storefront can be integrated with your existing training offerings or stand alone, and you can decide how long until the online presentation subscription expires.

Social networking: Embed presentations within your organization or conference website surrounded by your social media, or integrate a social media feed within the streaming player itself.

Security: Determine who will view your content, whether publicly available, through single sign on or multi-level access codes.

Project management: Partnering with GigTV gives you access to our technical and project management expertise before, during and after your event. We can either provide turnkey webcasting services or work as a part of your event technology team.

Reporting: See how many attendees watched what, when and for how long.

Custom web development: Attendees and exhibitors can interact online before, during and after the event in a custom social website, complete with profiles, schedule and links to the recorded conference sessions. Further integrate your webcasts into already adopted tools like social networking sites, conference websites, training portals or your intranet.

Benefits of hybrid events

For your business
• Generate a proven return on investment by creating new revenue streams
• Provide more value by helping drive event attendance and viewership
• Make content available immediately for on-demand viewing, no long encoding or editing process
• Differentiate your service offering

For your clients
• Take the event to the people who cannot be present
• Increase revenue by selling live or on-demand access online
• Create an online experience that mirrors the live event, complete with interaction between presenter and viewers
• Avoid scheduling conflicts and boost retention as attendees watch sessions on-demand
• Eliminate the burden on presenters with no software, no uploads and no change to their normal presentation style

Here’s some guides we’ve put together to help you get started

If you’d like to learn about marketing a hybrid event or learn how to generate revenue from hybrid events, contact us for an obligation free consultation.

Webcasting with GigTV has become the backbone of RANZCR’s online resources. With the ability to access these sessions on-demand via our webcast platform, the RANZCR experience doesn’t end when the Scientific Meeting does.